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After we showered and changed, Parker made lunch. He slurped his noodles next to me. His now dry hair was fluffed up, looking like a cloud on his head. I stared at him and felt an unfamiliar fear. For the first time, I had to remind myself that this was all temporary.
He was leaving in ten weeks.
Chapter Fourteen
Friday night.
Sixty-four days left.
The sizzling of the onions on the skillet and the delicious smell of the peppers made my stomach grumble. Gabby was cooking dinner for her and Nathaniel while he typed on his laptop, sneaking glances at her occasionally from the island.
I waited, fidgeting with the buckle of my purse.
“Are you coming to the game next Saturday?” Gabby asked.
“You know I don’t miss your games.”
“Excited to see Parker play? He’s pretty good.”
“Yeah,” my stomach twisted. “Except someone invited everyone at the office to watch, so Richard and Erik will also be there.”
I shot Nathaniel a glare, and he gave me a sheepish smile.
“Don’t talk to me about them. I don’t know why you’re entertaining those two in your life. You obviously like Parker!”
“I concur,” Nathaniel adjusted his glasses.
“It doesn’t matter if I do or don’t like him. He’s only here temporarily.”
“You’ve been so much happier over the last few weeks, Blake,” Gabby said, waving her spatula at me.
“Look, I –” The knock on the door stopped me. “I have to go.”
Gabby rolled her eyes at me and went back to stirring vegetables. I opened the door to see Richard wearing a mismatched jacket and pants. He smiled at me.
“You look wonderful, Blake.”
“Thanks.”
He took a peek over my shoulder and greeted Nathaniel, who just grunted and gave him a wave. “Can’t say I didn’t try,” he shrugged.
I offered him a smile as he offered his arm, and we walked to Flemings. Nathaniel’s animosity toward Richard, combined with Richard’s feeble attempt to say hello, told me that he knew why they didn’t like him. But they were all keeping it from me.
“I feel like I barely saw you this week,” he said.
“I spent way too many hours in the conference room with Lainee the last few days,” I laughed. “We were working on one of our other projects.”
During the walk, Gabby’s words replayed in my head like a broken record, pulling me away from Richard’s conversation. I tried to silence them and focus on the man next to me. A man I liked. A man who would still be here in three months.
The aromatic rosemary scent perfumed the room as we stepped inside. My stomach started complaining again about the lack of food it had seen today. I had an omelet for breakfast this morning and a protein shake for lunch, but I wanted to be plenty hungry for Flemings. Apparently, their food was incredible.
Richard ordered a bottle of wine, knowledgeable of its details. Based on the amount of information he repeated about it, I knew he had spent some time researching it.
His chatting died down a little bit after we ordered the food. I asked him questions about the project he was working on with Connor to draw some conversation out of him. They were building a new financial tracking system for our internal use to guide our projects. He excitedly talked about it for a few minutes.
I knew Connor was testing him for the promotion, and he knew it too. Connor would see that he was good at his job and give him the position. Richard was hungry for success, and I admired his dedication to growing in his career.
Project Porcelain came up for a short bit, but not much more than that.
